Until the End (Sea Breeze #9)(25)

The kid didn’t mean to say shit that sliced a f**king hole in my stomach, but goddamn, that was hard to swallow. Trisha liked the damn cafeteria food because she was hungry. Shit, that made me furious. What girl doesn’t have a favorite food?

Preston getting excited about Mrs. T’s cookies made a helluva lot more sense now. He always took some home to the boys and Daisy May now that she had teeth. He had this life too. But he had us. Trisha didn’t have anyone.

She hadn’t had anyone. She did now.

“We both like cereal. She won’t admit it, but sugar flakes are her favorite. They’re mine, too, but I lie and eat the cinnamon squares and leave the flakes for her. I know she likes them best.”

I was wrong. She had Krit.

Trisha

Present day . . .

Leaning against the door frame, I watched as Rock read a chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone with Daisy May. It was their nightly ritual. Daisy May had come a long way since she became ours, but her reading level was still lower than most of the kids in her class. Each night Rock read a chapter with her from the book that she had checked out from the library. It was helping her tremendously.

Tonight watching them together reminded me of the moment I’d realized Rock Taylor was my hero. I had fought him every step of the way, not wanting to trust anyone but my brother. I was afraid of being hurt or rejected.

Rock hadn’t given up on me, just like he wasn’t giving up on Daisy May. He believed in her, and I knew that was going to be enough to help her conquer this. When Rock Taylor believed in you, then you believed in yourself.

“Night, Daddy,” Daisy May said sleepily.

“Night, baby girl,” he replied as he put the book on the table beside her bed and stood up over her.

“Night, Mommy,” she said as she shifted her gaze over to me.

I walked into the room and stood beside Rock. “Good night, sweetheart. You read that whole last page all by yourself and didn’t miss a word. You’re going to be the top reader in your class one day,” I told her.

Daisy May grinned and looked from me to Rock. He nodded in agreement, and she beamed. All it took from Rock was a nod of encouragement to make her smile like she owned the world. He did that to girls.

I bent down over her and kissed her sweet little cheek. “I love you,” I whispered against her soft skin. Those were words she hadn’t heard enough in her short life. Rock and I had agreed to tell all three of our kids we loved them every morning and every night and every chance we got during the day.

“Love you too,” she said with a happiness in her voice that I cherished.

Rock dropped to his haunches so he was at eye level with her. “You’re my princess. Love you no matter what. Always.” It was something he had started saying to Daisy May a little over a year ago when she had broken a lamp by accident and burst into tears, afraid we wouldn’t love her anymore.

“Love you no matter what,” she repeated.

I walked out of the room and headed into the hallway to wait on Rock. It was time we went to check on our boys. They were getting their showers and finishing up their homework while Rock and Daisy May read.

Rock closed her door after making sure she had her night-light on.

His arm slid around my waist, and he pulled me against him. “You smell really good,” he said in a deep, husky voice as he ran his nose up the side of my exposed neck.

“Don’t start yet.” I winked at him as I pulled away. “We have to get the boys in bed first.”

Rock chuckled as his hand cupped my ass. “Then don’t look so damn sexy.”

I rolled my eyes at him. My hair was in a bun on the top of my head. I was wearing a pair of cutoff sweats and one of his old T-shirts, which I had also cut off so it didn’t hang to my knees. Nothing about my appearance was sexy. I even had the spaghetti sauce from dinner splashed on me from letting it overheat on the stove.

The bathroom door opened, and Jimmy walked out in his pajama pants and T-shirt. He was letting his hair grow. He wanted it like Preston’s. Right now it was damp and tucked behind his ears. Life with a teenager was supposed to be more difficult than this. Jimmy was thirteen now, but he never once gave us a moment’s trouble. It worried Rock. He was afraid Jimmy was being too good because he feared losing us.

“Ready for bed?” I asked him.

His smile, so much like his brother’s, tugged at his lips. “Yeah. I’m ready. But y’all didn’t have to wait on me. You could have put Brent to bed without me.”

“I tuck all my kids even. I’ll be doing it as long as you live under this roof,” Rock replied with a teasing tone. “Even when you’re eighteen.”

Jimmy knew Rock was teasing him and rolled his eyes with a laugh. “Yeah. Sure you will.”

Jimmy walked into the room he shared with Brent, who was now ten. Brent was already in bed, looking at the newest sports magazine he had gotten in the mail. The kid was obsessed with football. Which Rock loved. It was their connection. They talked football for hours.

His eyes lifted and he looked up at us. Of the three kids, he was the most serious and cautious. He trusted Preston, but it had taken months before he trusted us. This past year had been so much easier. He had started to believe that we wanted him and that we were a family. One he could feel safe in.

“You should read this. The draft predictions are ridiculous,” Brent said, tossing the magazine at Rock, who caught it.